Italtel, a telecommunications company in IT system integration, managed services, Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) and all-IP solutions, has launched an Open Innovation program, which will see it collaborate with start-ups and new businesses to leverage emerging technologies for applications such as Industry 4.0, Smart Cities and Digital Healthcare.

The program will see Italtel collaborate with start-ups and smaller enterprises to develop and test their solutions, with the goal of jointly commercialising them. It will initially focus on the Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain and cybersecurity technologies.

“Italy has a rich entrepreneurial fabric which stimulates creativity and innovative ideas, but start-ups and small businesses are often limited in what assets they have to develop these ideas further,” said Luca Ferraris, head of Strategy, Innovation & Collaboration, at Italtel. “This is why this program is so important; it provides an innovation network and an opportunity to collaborate which is not limited to the laboratory.”

The use of physical spaces, test plants and IT resources are among the resources Italtel can offer to program participants in Settimo Milanese and Carini (Palermo). In exchange for this support, Italtel will be able to utilize the technologies and applications created under the program and quickly bring them to market.

Since the launch of the program six-months ago, 60 participating companies have already received appraisal for their ground-breaking work, leading to new opportunities in Industry 4.0.

“The scheme is a great opportunity for our partners to receive support in overcoming key industry hurdles frequently faced when launching new products and to have a platform which enables them toreach global markets,” added Ferraris.

For more details about Italtel’s Open Innovation program, including how to join click here.

At the 8th Global Mobile Broadband Forum, Huawei Wireless X Labs and MGI signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on wireless telemedicine.In 2018, the two parties will work together to provide wireless remote ultrasonic diagnosis applications based on Huawei’s wireless connection technologies and MGI’s remote ultrasonic diagnosis system. It will be the industry’s first use of mobile network technologies in real-time operation applications for telemedicine.

Healthcare resources are becoming an increasingly serious issue worldwide. There are even less healthcare resources in remote or hard to access areas, such as plateaus, distant frontiers, disaster-stricken areas, or on the open sea. Telemedicine can eliminate geographical limitations. Doctors and patients no longer need to be in the same room. Patients can spend less time and money traveling to access medical care, and the medical experts can work more efficiently.

The telemedicine applications related to remote real-time operations, such as remote ultrasonic detection or remote surgery, are difficult to implement due to their requirements for high bandwidth and low latency. For example, the movements of the doctor’s hands, the image transmission, and the force feedback must be tightly synchronised, which is hard to realise under the current network conditions.

To resolve this issue, Huawei Wireless X Labs and MGI will use 4.5G and 5G network technologies to provide data connections for remote ultrasonic robots. This will enable doctors to control ultrasonic probes on the patient side for diagnosis. 4.5G and 5G network provide plenty of bandwidth.

They can provide dozens of megabits per second for onsite audio, video, and B-mode ultrasonic examination images. The low latency boasted by 4.5G and 5G networks ensures that the force feedback from patient sensors transmitted to their doctor’s touch sensitive devices in just milliseconds. With 4.5G and 5G networks, ultrasonic images can be transmitted to the cloud for real-time analysis to assist with diagnosis at multiple levels.

Speaking of the cooperation, Zhou Yuefeng, CMO of Huawei Wireless Network Product Line, remarked, “Innovations in wireless communications technologies create new possibilities for the healthcare industry. Wireless X Labs will join hands with industry partners to innovate together and to accelerate the digital transformation of the entire healthcare industry”.

Liu Jian, vice president of MGI, said, “MGI’s newly released remote ultrasonic diagnosis system breaks through the boundaries presented by traditional ultrasonic diagnosis, and saves both time and space. We will work with Huawei and other partners to help balance healthcare resources and integrate genetic data with image data, bringing high-quality, precision healthcare services to everyone”.

The 2017 Global Mobile Broadband Forum was held in London on November 15th and 16th, 2017. For more details, please click here

Italtel, a leading telecommunications company in IT system integration, managed services, Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and all-IP solutions, has launched an Open Innovation program, which will see it collaborate with start-ups and new businesses to leverage emerging technologies for applications such as Industry 4.0, Smart Cities and Digital Healthcare. The program will see Italtel […]

The burgeoning drone industry has been one of the most coveted technology topics for many years. Today, drones are playing a critical role in a diverse set of fields such as transportation, agriculture, infrastructure, rescue and relief, and entertainment.

The birth of the Internet once brought computers to a new development stage. Likewise, connecting drones to networks is a pivotal step in unleashing their application potential. As the industry thrives, point-to-point communication between drones and remote-control platforms can no longer satisfy diverse demands. Innovative applications urgently require the connection among drones and the communication between drones and users. Drones that are connected to mobile communication networks can fly a better route, work more efficiently, and realise more rational airspace usage to deliver greater economic benefits.

“More and more activities that traditionally take place on the ground are now happening in the air,” remarked Zhou Yuefeng, CMO of Huawei’s Wireless Network Product Line. “Flying taxis for personal transportation will soon be a reality. The combination of drones and cellular networks will redefine the airspace, transforming the way we travel, shop, and create.

However, all current base stations are designed to serve humans and objects on the ground. Low airspace drones are supported by reflected signals and side lobe coverage. As a result, drones presently face severe signal interference challenges. The current network can only support a limited number of drone applications where aircraft fly below 120 m.” Network construction is the first step towards application innovation.

The digital sky initiative aims to provide 300 m low airspace network coverage, and create an advanced test environment for drone applications. The initiative will also support non-line-of-sight (NLOS) flight control verification and large volume data transmission to enable the low airspace digitised economy,” Zhou explained.

The digital sky initiative consists of three steps. Step one (2017 and 2018) seeks to set up connected drone application demo sites and promotes standardisation of cellular-network-based management. Step two (2019 and 2020) requires field tests and aims to achieve small-scale commercial use (deployment in over five countries). Step three (2020 onwards) is designed to bring low airspace digital networks into commercial use, and provide network coverage for at least 30% of low airspace.

Huawei Wireless X Labs has also set up a Digital Sky Special Interest Group, gathering governments, operators, drone vendors, industry organisations, and other customers. In October 2017, the world’s first Digital Sky Hub was founded in Shanghai. It aims to encourage joint efforts to set up drone application demo sites. In 2018, hubs will be set up in Europe, Canada, Korea, and other locations around the world.

Guests at the MBBF watched the live video sent back by the drones. Commercial 4.5G networks can now support NLOS flight control, data transmission, and flight. The new generation of 5G networks featuring ultra-large bandwidth, extremely-low […]

Renesas Electronics, a supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, announced the expansion of its popular RX65N/RX651 Group of microcontroller (MCU) lineup that addresses advanced security needs for connected devices operating in industrial automation, building automation, and smart metering systems. The expanded lineup features MCUs with integrated Trusted Secure IP, and enhanced, trusted flash functionality and human-machine interface (HMI) for industrial and network control systems.

“Security, reliability and connectivity have joined high-performance and quality as top decision-making criteria for industrial control system developers,” said Tim Burgess, senior director of the High-End MCU Business, Renesas Electronics Corporation. “The expanded RX65N/RX651 MCU lineup provides industrial systems manufacturers the high reliability, power efficiency and enhanced connectivity required for operation in industrial systems, while adding the enhanced security and connectivity required for edge devices in increasingly connected environments.”

The expansion of devices operating at the edge of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has increased system manufacturers’ need for secure network connectivity and reliability, including secure on-the-go firmware updates. The expanded RX65N/RX651 devices support these evolving security and reprogrammability needs, offering integrated Trusted Secure IP, enhanced flash protection, and other technology advancements to create a secure and stable integrated solution far above others in the market, as proven by the Cryptographic Algorithm Validation (CAVP) certification.

In turn, these security advancements enable seamless flash firmware updates in the field through secure network communications.

Key features of the expanded RX65N/RX651 MCUs:

Integrated Trusted Secure IP

The new MCUs expanded with enhanced security features are based on the high-performance RXv2 core and a 40nm process, which provide strong power efficiency for CPU operation at 4.55 Core Mark/MHz. Integrating the Trusted Secure IP into the new MCUs enables system control engineers to realise high root-of-trust levels for device operation through a combination of three new features:

Protect encryption key by Trusted Secure IP
Integration of encryption hardware accelerators including AES, 3DES, SHA, and TRNG as part of Trusted Secure IP
Protect boot code by area of Flash

The Trusted Secure IP received the CAVP certification, which ensures the customer will use a device with a high security level.

Network connectivity and HMI features optimised for the IIoT

Renesas has optimised the new RX65N/RX651 MCUs for connected industrial environments. The new MCUs offer network connectivity and HMI support that makes it possible to:

Monitor the operating state of machinery from both inside and outside the factory
Exchange data for making changes to production instructions
Reprogram the MCU’s memory to update equipment settings

Design engineers are often asked to integrate small thin-film-transistor (TFT) displays into their IoT edge devices or system control applications. These displays allow users to monitor machine behavior through a modern low-cost HMI solution.

The RX65N/RX651 is an ideal solution for controlling these displays as it features an embedded TFT controller and an integrated 2D graphic accelerator to provide advanced graphics features and high-performance applications. Selecting a WQVGA display size allows the large 640 kB of on-chip RAM to be used as display frame buffer, which saves external RAM, ensuring a cost-optimised design.

Seamless in-the-field firmware updates

Compared with other IoT devices, industrial applications are designed for […]

Over the past few decades, IIoT technologies have crept into virtually every aspect of industrial automation and operations. Seamless connectivity, technology-agnostic interoperability and data-uniformity have enabled operators to easily monitor, manage and leverage data from any number of proprietary assets and processes in ways that, before, were simply cost prohibitive.

During this time, we’ve also seen the influence of the IIoT extend beyond the factory floor to the cloud. The omnipresent IoT liberates inexhaustible quantities of real-time data and metrics that flow cloud-bound to feed insatiable analytics, predictive AI and enterprise data applications; a holy grail manifested in the form of absolute (almost clairvoyant) awareness, intelligence and knowledge… at least this was the plan, says Nitesh Arora, head of Marketing of Cloudleaf.

Pretty sensational stuff, so let’s come down to earth and talk facts:

All too often, these IoT solutions were designed, implemented and managed on the underlying principle of providing efficiency through automation. In the race to digitise, far less thought was given to the real value of the IoT and its ability to help enterprises future-proof their capital investments by providing the means (not the end) to solving real-world business challenges.

As a matter of course, many enterprises implemented technology simply for technology’s sake and after the novelty wore off, operators were left with yet one more system to learn, maintain and pay-off. Even under the best scenarios, operation managers found that their IoT footprint was anything but low-overhead; the majority of IoT solutions on the market require significant allocation of implementation, integration and training resources.

Today, few industrial IoT solutions are engineered from the ground-up to solve business challenges and uncover opportunities in a sustainable value-added way, and if you ask operation managers what their top 4 pain-points are, they’ll likely say:

I don’t have a way to efficiently orchestrate our complex workflows of materials, tools and people,
I can’t track the location or condition of my assets, or prevent them from getting lost or stolen
I have no idea how to leverage our partner relationships and tie into their inventory systems
I don’t have a good way of keeping my operational costs in check

Fortunately a new-breed of IoT solutions has recently come on-line offering a collection of robust technologies that go the extra mile to provide simplicity and the sustainable industry-centric solutions operation managers are looking for. So before we get ahead of our skis, let’s take a look a 4 essential ingredients that go into successful IoT asset tracking and workflow optimisation solutions:

Robust and battle-tested tech

IoT solutions must be able to rely on technology that is robust, interoperable, cost-effective and offers high-availability functioning. By equipping assets with unobtrusive medium-range wireless transmitters (such as Bluetooth-low-energy), plant managers can quickly build smart networks of IoT-capable sensors, gateways and channel and real-time operational data into their cloud applications.

This provides managers with virtually unlimited control over large groups of […]

SEAT president Luca de Meo and Telefónica de España president Luis Miguel Gilpérez have signed an agreement that aims to promote a joint effort to develop innovative initiatives in the automotive industry. The agreement reached, which makes Telefónica a strategic IT supplier to SEAT, is set within the framework of SEAT’s strategy to position itself as a benchmark company in connected, digitised mobility solutions.

In this sense, the agreement between the companies reflects the collaboration in three major areas of work: the shared use of insights (information extracted from anonymised aggregated data) to design optimised approaches to solutions for mobility; the application of 5G connectivity in the connected car and developing digital transformation projects as an integral part of the car manufacturing process.

“With this agreement, SEAT consolidates itself as a benchmark in the sector’s digitalisation. Joining forces with Telefónica as a strategic partner enables us to take a major step forward in our commitment to offering mobility solutions that make lives easier for the drivers of our vehicles” assured SEAT president Luca de Meo, who added that “this collaboration will also enable us to use technology to develop projects that enhance our production processes and relationships with suppliers”.

Luca de Meo

According to Telefónica España president Luis Miguel Gilpérez, “new technologies are truly going to trigger a revolution in the automotive sector, and at Telefónica we want to be the leading partner in helping SEAT spearhead this new phase. How big data and blockchains will influence the sector, or how decisive 5G will be for the future of the autonomous and connected car are a few of the innovations that Telefónica and SEAT are going to work on together”.

One of the highlights of the agreement is that it places value on the implementation of new technologies for 5G networks in the connected and autonomous car ecosystem. The rollout of Telefónica’s fifth generation networks is going to offer a qualitative leap in the capacity, quality, latency periods and speed of telecommunications, which will enable the creation of new experiences and use cases of the connected vehicle.

Under this framework, both companies will work in different innovation sessions and idea workshops with the aim of proposing and assessing applications for this technology in vehicles. The proposals that are identified as offering added value will be put through pilot tests in real-life settings, specific areas where Telefónica has deployed these new capabilities.

Luis Miguel Gilpérez

Furthermore, the cooperation will also introduce the development and implementation of Industry 4.0 initiatives in the vehicle manufacturing process. In this sense, Telefónica and SEAT are collaborating on a proof of concept based on blockchain technology to improve the tracking of parts within the supply chain at the Martorell factory. In addition, solutions and systems based on IoT (Internet of Things) with the purpose of enhancing and streamlining procurement management and supplier relations.

The agreement also provides for the implementation of tools and joint mechanisms that facilitate data collection, management and analysis, all while respecting the principles of privacy, confidentiality and transparency of user-owners.

Whether a fan of cold weather or not, winter is soon approaching meaning that the holiday season is just around the corner. Obviously, everyone has probably wondered what devices they are going to get for Christmas, but have you considered what you’re going to get your family and loved ones? If you’re unsure, why not […]

Whether a fan of cold weather or not, winter is soon approaching meaning that the holiday season is just around the corner. Obviously, everyone has probably wondered what devices they are going to get for Christmas, but have you considered what you’re going to get your family and loved ones? If you’re unsure, why not […]